Thursday, May 31, 2012

Of
course as luck would have it, after Little B was sick recently, Mr B caught the
cold as well. With Mr B an adult asthmatic we generally hate anything with a
cough. So we quickly turned to an old standby – our Super Chicken Soup which we
find speeds up recovery or in some cases stops the cold /sore throat etc
completely in its tracks before it can take hold.

We
morphed together this recipe from 2 different recipes(Bec’s Kill Anything Soup on Simple Savings and Jude
Blereau’s Chicken Soup to Heal All Ills in Wholefood for Children).

4 chicken legs (skin off)

4 cloves garlic (finely diced)

2 red chillies

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tbsp coconut oil

5 cups water

1 finely chopped carrot

1.5 good handfuls of baby spinach

1 packet of udon noodles (chopped)

Put chicken legs in with coconut oil and
sauté slightly. Then add rest of ingredients except noodles. Cook for 30
minutes, then take chicken out and pull meat off the bone. Put chicken back
into soup. Add noodles and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt & pepper to
taste.

This
meal is quick, yummy and really clears the sinuses. We make a similar version
for Little B sans the chillies. We also puree everything together for him to
make a smooth soup and he just gobbles it up. Mr B prefers the soup clear with
the vegies, chicken etc floating around in all the garlic/chilli goodness.

I make
this as soon as I know either of the boys are sick and it seems to really help.
Definitely helps them either not get or get over chest infections really
quickly. Which as chief cook, nose wiper and all round go to girl, is nothing
short of a bonus!!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I
love making bread :-) It’s one of the things that I really enjoy doing and love
to experiment with.

But
bread making can be temperamental and moving to the new house, I found that our
bread wasn’t proving properly (due to temperatures). I resorted to putting it
on a heat pad which worked but the bread wasn’t as nice (I now know I was
overstretching the gluten). I even resorted to using the breadmaker to make the
dough and then baking it in the oven, but still not as successful as it used to
be.

So
what to do?? After seeing an episode that River Cottage did on bread, I
borrowed the River Cottage Bread Book from the library. And voila – I had my
answer. This book has 30 or so pages dedicated just to the process of making
bread and on reading this I could plainly see what was causing the problem.

A
few tweaks here and there and I’m making beautiful bread again. In fact, I’m
prouder of my bread now than before. It looks and tastes like it came from a
bakery.

I
also like the fact that this recipe makes 2 loaves at a time. I’m all for time
saving at the moment in the kitchen as I have to cook so much. So spending half
as much time to make twice as much bread is simply wonderbubble**!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

With
the cool weather we’ve been having for most of May, I started our normal
preparations for winter early this year.

We’ve
had our woollen underlay’s and flannelette sheets on our beds for quite a few
weeks already. But after really cold night last night, our extra comforters
came out and have been pinned to our doonas and put back inside their dust-mite
covers. We use these comforters as emergency evac linen during summer (they
live in the boot of my car).

Our
hot water bottles have been in high demand!! LOL

We’re
really wary about the increased cost of utilities and having never experienced
a winter in this house, we are being fairly frugal with the heating. It goes on
for 2 hours in the morning and 3-4 hours in the evening and the rest of the
time we turn it off or keep it set to 17 (unless Little B is really sick). So far, so
good – the house doesn’t really drop below 17 degrees (yet!!)

I’ve
aired out our jumpers and winter jackets, and dug out all Little B’s winter
clothes. So with frugal and green living during winter in mind, it’s all about layers here at the House of B – I’m more likely to pop
on a beanie or a second pair of socks than to turn up the heater.

We
also have lots of snugly blankets to cuddle up with when reading, crocheting or
watching tv at night. There’s definitely something romantic about snuggling up
in blankets, when it’s dark and chilly outside.

We indulge in lots of warms soups for lunches & dinners, plus we've been cooking lots of casseroles and warm oriented foods for lunches. Also nothing hits the spot like a warm drink...Little B loves to snuggle and read library books over a cup of hot carob. Plus
we keep warm working in the garden, baking, and playing during the day.

Finally,
Mr B is going to put in some insulation batts underneath the floors of the
bedrooms to stop some of the cold coming up from underneath in those rooms at
night. This is a fairly expensive exercise so we aim to do it room by room as
finances permit :-)

Thursday, May 24, 2012

I am absolutely loving this book at the moment. I’m
only half way through but it’s given me so much food for thought that I cant
wait to read the rest of it.

It’s a series of stories/essays representing the first
three decades of permaculture. And as other reviews have said it joins the dots and connects the who's who of Australian permaculture history. Which is interesting in itself but what I’m
finding more interesting is the diverse opinions and passionate beliefs that
these pioneers have not just about our past but also our future (the whole
earth community).

My particular favourites at the moment are the stories
written by Geoff Lawton and Robyn Francis.

My brain is swimming with words like “living with
intent”, “work discipline”, “re-weaving the fabric of communities”, and “expanding
your life into time experience”.

I love books that challenge your brain (like The Great Disruption did for me last year). And in the last few months, I felt a bit
bogged down in survivalist mode. But after reading this for a few days, I’ve
realised that I’m uplifted (and no it’s not a book all about positives), I feel
energized & reconnected to our sustainable journey.

Here’s hoping the rest of the book is as good as the
start….two thumbs up!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Well we came home with more than artwork and good
stories from preschool yesterday…..a doozey of a cold that has started with the
most horrendous cough. Little B has been up all night with a high temperature
and this morning coughing till he vomited (not a pretty picture, I know but yay
for the vomit bowl we keep under the bed!!).

And when he has slept I’ve done loads of laundry before being called back to his bed, where
I have been used as a pillow or a tissue and read books of my own (I'm loving Heidi Swanson's new cookbook).

As for dinner, whenever Little B is sick, I resort to
whatever is fastest to cook and eat – so the moment I knew what I was in for, I
threw on the slow cooker with a lentil vegie casserole. Just add some rice and
it’s all sorted.

On days like these, I just surrender and go with the
flow, don’t try to get anything in particular done, and hope that it passes
quickly!!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

I
started crochet lessons this week and I have to say I’m feeling the love.

I’ve
crocheted the odd beanie in the past but found it a really difficult concept to
pickup let alone continue with. And now I know why….I had learned off a leftie
when I am right handed. 10 minutes into my first lesson yesterday, I discovered
this as my teacher Kirsten showed me how to do it right handed and then I was
away.

I dont enjoy knitting very much these days...I'm very slow and it hurts my eyes (I wear glasses). So I love
the immediacy of crocheting and crocheted my way through my first granny square
yesterday and am already onto my second. Our first project is a scarf – rather timely
given the freezing weather we’ve been having.

And
sitting in that lovely local craft shop with a group of women (and all our children
crafting and playing in another room) snug with a heater, while it was dreary
and cold outside was quite simply lovely.

I'm now full of ideas of what to do with all the wool I have lying around the place :-)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Before
Little B was born I was a HUGE movie buff. I absolutely loved the cinema, and
could talk about movies, genres, directors, actors and loved chatting to my
brother about movies & dialogue we had seen and loved. I even scored my
dream job at the time and put myself through university working at the cinemas
(in the days where you scooped the ice cream and made the choctops between
sessions). This sort of fell to the side when Little B was born and is not
something I’ve fallen back into though I do try to see the occasional DVD.

So what
to do yesterday when I woke up with a raging sore throat, a cold and a
migraine. First up Little B and I climbed back into bed with Mr B where we lay
chatting and listening to Winnie the Pooh on audiobook (read waited for the
painkillers and coffee to kick in).

Then Mr
B decided Mothers Day could come just a little bit early. It was a group effort
including Granny B but last night Mr B took me out to the movies to see The Avengers. I’m a massive Joss Whedon fan and this movie didn’t disappoint.

Today we
celebrated Mothers Day with our mums with flower bulbs, rose bushes and
home-made kindy presents (the best kind of mothers day present if you ask me). So
I’m feeling loved up and appreciated at this particular point in time. Not to
mention stuffed as a goog with lovely winter casseroles and cakey crumbly
desserts.

So Happy
Mothers Day to all the mum’s out there – you do a fabulous job!! xx

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

There
have been so many amazingly positive posts to read around the web at the moment
(like here and here and here). I love that people are so excited about making
changes and making a difference to “humanity” (Bec and Gavin say) as well as
themselves and their lives.

Here at
the House of B we have been digging for change ;-) We have been digging out a
base for our new 5000L water tank, digging out and over old veggie beds and digging
out and putting in the pole for our new solar tracker. We’ve been getting
earthy and downright grotty digging deep in the mud. And I’ve loved it…it feels
like we are moving forward to the house we’d like to live in (now if only it was on 10 acres or so).

We hope
from this to have another solar source, some beds ready to plant for spring and
a water tank to plumb our toilet and washing machine into.

Next up we hope to trim the tops of the trees that are blocking the sun to our vegie beds in late autumn/winter and put in 3 new vegie beds before spring...I forsee lots more digging in my future!! LOL

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

NOURISH: What can I say…I‘ve become totally addicted
to popcorn and make it as much as I can using olive oil or coconut oil and sea
salt..yumm!! Best snack ever ;-) Other favourites have been Vegetarian Fried
Rice & Banana Bread from The Low GI Family Cookbook.
Donna Hay’s Apple (but pear in our house) slice is divine!! We couldn’t stop
eating it (though I added lots of oats and less flour to the crumble to make it
healthier).

PREPARE: I know this should be about
food but after a nasty wakeup call, I updated our first aid kit and made sure
we have everything on hand for mini emergencies. I cut a bit of my finger off
making soup (hello sharp new knives). Whilst I have first aid training, I
didn’t have the things on hand to do it solo. A trip to the doctor led to a
trip to the hospital. It had more bark than bite but they helped me dress it
properly. Here’s a tip…always keep pads on hand they are the best thing to hold
onto a wound to stop bleeding!!

REDUCE: We’ve been reusing old
bubblewrap envelopes from Mr B’s work. They fold out into a decent size (see
below). We reused some old fencing, locks and hinges to make some side gates –
took a bit of match making but now our yard is fairly secure.

GREEN: I’ve been bubble wrapping alot of our windows and using door snakes as window snakes on our old sash
windows. They leak pretty badly at the bottom but this solution works a treat!!
Go fabric and sawdust!! I’m surprised how well the bubble wrap works as well.
Our solar has finally been inspected so now we hope to get it officially turned
on.

GROW: Have been eating copious
amounts of baby spinach. I’ve never had it work this well, you just cut what
you want and it keeps growing. Little B has also enjoyed eating peas straight
out of the pod hand picked. Though I have to watch him as he would pick and eat them
all if he could :-)

CREATE: Have cut down some old
t-shirts of mine to make long nightshirts for Little B. He wears these as
layers beneath his current pj’s to stop his back getting cold at night (a huge
source of nightwaking).

DISCOVER: I’ve been re-reading
The Dirty Life and some secondhand copies of Good Organic Gardening. I’ve also
borrowed Escape to River Cottage from the library but have only just started
watching it.

ENHANCE: Have been helping out a
friend who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer…she’s new to living green so has
been picking my brains and checking out our bathroom, pantry and laundry for
ideas.

ENJOY: The weather has been such a
lovely mix this month of sun, wind and rain. Little B is loving all the
autumn leaves and we spend a lot of time playing leaf boats, doing leaf
paintings or just burying him in the leaves while I do some gardening!! LOL I’ve
also enjoyed catching up with family before they went overseas for a few months
and also our mini break in Adelaide. It’s been nice to just slow down and
relax.